Where Do They All Come From? Determining the Provenance of Anadromous River Herring in Marine Bycatch

Limburg, Karin E.

P-122 Where Do They All Come From? Determining the Provenance of Anadromous River Herring in Marine Bycatch

Monday, August 20, 2012

Exhibition Hall (RiverCentre)

Eric Palkovacs , Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC

Karin E. Limburg , Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Theodore V. Willis , Environmental Science, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME

Simon R. Thorrold , Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA

Steve Gephard , Connecticut DEP

David Post , Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Sara M. Turner , Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Emily Argo , Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC

Ellen Labbe , Environmental Science, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Anadromous river herring (alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring, A. aestivalis) populations have declined to very low levels, after having once been the dominant anadromous fishes on the North American east coast. Today they are being considered for ESA listing. Although most inland fisheries are either closed or maintained at low levels, marine bycatch takes as much or more than total inland fisheries combined. To begin to manage this, we have undertaken a coast-wide study of geographic markers in both species in order to determine provenance. We combine the use of population genetics with otolith chemistry: the former can be resolved only broadly to region of origin, and the latter can be used to narrow down which watersheds within the region contribute fish to marine bycatch. Preliminary results indicate the presence of distinct population segments (DPS) and a range of useful trace elements and isotopes in otoliths that can be used to discriminate within the DPS.